58 thoughts on “How does the most powerful man in Washington accept nearly a million of his Kentucky constituents living in poverty?”

Kentuckians Have Finally Had About Enough of Mitch McConnell
Clinging to Trump out of fear he will kill you if you don’t do what he says is becoming more politically perilous.
What’s the print version of Donald Trump being booed at the World Series?
The poll showing that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the president’s most stolid defender, is down to a 18 percent job approval rating in Kentucky. Only 37 percent in the Public Policy Poll said they would vote for him again next year.
Could that be because of his stone-faced support for whatever steaming mess Trump hurls his way? The Bluegrass State is the canary in the mine for how much Trump can help, or hurt, a candidate as his impeachment looks every more likely. After two weeks of unimpeachable civil servants bearing witness to an impeachable president, clinging to Trump out of fear he will kill you if you don’t do what he says is becoming more politically perilous.

I’d say the Republicans’ behavior of late is about more than symbolism. Indeed, if I were among the House Republican leaders, I’d be very concerned about the possibility of Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, betraying my conference. Most, though not all, of the House Republicans are all-in for Trump. If McConnell decides his majority’s fate and the president’s fate have diverged, he’ll turn on him, and the minute he does, the House Republicans will be left to twist in the wind. In this sense, it’s entirely reasonable for Scalise & Co. to lie nonstop. The more they lie, and the more they can get right-wing media to lie for them, the more they’ll have a chance.

When Nancy Pelosi entered the House there were only 23 women out of 538. She worked her way up to Speaker of the House. Oh and she had five children before getting elected. There are now 127 women in the House and Senate of which only 21 are Republican.

Nancy & Bernie are the same age. They entered Congress in the same year. Since then he has named some Post Offices.

Easy. He pulls his head back into his comfy, 1%-er’s shell. He sleeps just fine, even when he’s awake. It’s easy to be oblivious to the pain of others when it has no physical impact on him, and, he has no conscience to bother him. Such is the defective moral compass of Moscow Mitch, the scum-sucker.

Why give Bernie any attention, even negative? He won’t be the nominee. This is not 2016. If Congress doesn’t rid us of Trumpsky, the voters will. Bluer and bluer are we, because Repugz insist on making the 1% their only constituency.

X-R, you noted last thread one attraction to call mal-an-ego home is the absence of state income tax. another might involve divorce laws re property/personal finances. even tho’ he has a pre-nup, it doesn’t hurt to have back up in case it’s nullified because of his dalliances with the playboy model and the porn star.

Trump, Lifelong New Yorker, Declares Himself a Resident of Florida
The president filed a “declaration of domicile” last month saying that his property in Palm Beach will be his permanent residence.
[…]
In late September, Mr. Trump changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Palm Beach, Fla., according to documents filed with the Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Melania Trump, the first lady, also changed her residence to Palm Beach in an identical document.
Each of the Trumps filed a “declaration of domicile” saying that the Mar-a-Lago Club, Mr. Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, will be their permanent residence.

x-r, I wonder too if the change of jurisdiction in light of criminal cases brewing in NY may have also been the reason.

among other things of interest, quotes in wapo’s story on the change of address:

As news of the change spread, some of those city and state leaders, all Democrats, endorsed Trump’s decision.
“Good riddance,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo tweeted. “It’s not like @realDonaldTrump paid taxes here anyway … He’s all yours, Florida.”
Corey Johnson, New York’s city council speaker, agreed: “GOOD RIDDANCE!!,” he bade Trump in a tweet.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out or whatever,” quipped Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Keystone Pipeline Shut After Spilling 9,000 Barrels of Oil in North Dakota
(Reuters) – An estimated 9,120 barrels of oil have spilled from TC Energy Corp’s Keystone crude pipeline in North Dakota, state authorities said on Thursday, a major leak at a time of increased regulatory scrutiny of oil pipeline expansions.
The initial estimate makes it one of the biggest onshore crude spills in the past decade and the largest for Keystone, according to U.S. Pipeline Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration (PHMSA) data back to 2010.
The cause of the rupture has not been disclosed.

The New York Times–Siena College poll released Friday showed Warren with 22 percent support from likely Democratic caucusgoers, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with 19 percent, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) with 18 percent and Biden with 17 percent. All four fall close to the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.

The noise of chippers and chain saws caused a curiosity which was only satisfied by going outside. A neighbor’s tree was laying across the street, a big healthy maple is now firewood. Down three homes was a tree branch laying on his house, and between his truck and the house was the top half of a tree. Sometime later today I will have a vlog up on Buena Ventura Life showing the damage on my block. There is much more damage down the streets.

Under a plan released Friday morning, the Massachusetts senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate goes further: Middle class Americans would no longer pay health premiums or copays and would also not pay any new taxes to replace those costs. However, they would pay taxes on whatever extra take-home pay they would receive in this new system.
However, she will boost what had been a 3% wealth tax on people with more than a billion dollars to 6%. Her plan would also have employers pay higher taxes to the government, which she says would replace what they currently pay toward private health insurance.
Warren is proposing $20.5 trillion in new federal spending under the proposal.

Thursday morning ahead of the vote, Rep. Steve Scalise spoke against the inquiry standing next to a placard of the Kremlin and Soviet hammer and sickle with the words “37 Days of Soviet-Style Impeachment proceedings.” Speaker Pelosi spoke at the floor podium next to an easel-held placard of the American flag. But the best and most appropriate visual aid for the Impeachment proceedings is the U.S. Constitution.

Article II of the Constitution mandates the Impeachment proceedings. And that same Constitution and the President’s oath of office prohibits the abuse of power that instigated the Impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

It hasn’t been “37 Days of Soviet-Style Impeachment proceedings.” It hasn’t even been 37 days of Boehner-Style proceedings, even though Pelosi is following the same procedures set down and followed by the former Republican House Speaker. It has been 37 days of U.S. Constitution-Style Impeachment proceedings…and counting.

Hmmm, the calculator just says I would take home every dime I spend in premiums (through my job), co-pays, RX, etc. I realize my taxes will go up to offset this benefit. They need to clarify this; be absolutely upfront about it. Danes pay high taxes, but they get so much for it and don’t fear govt stealing it for/squandering it on their cronies.

Just imagine, a healthy (mentally and physically) population; a well-educated work force making a good living, many in jobs that help the environment. Who would fear such a place? You know who. The 1% who think they might have to fork over a tiny percentage of their more-than-enough. F ‘em. Vote blue.

Simple, poobah, Mitch don’ care. It’s not like he hobnobs with the poor anyway.

BB, we had that front push through here around 7 last night – pretty impressive for about half an hour or so. After that, just colder – woke up to a few small flakes in the air this morning. A snownado, I tell you. The leaves that are still on the trees must have really wanted to stay where they are – the two maples in the front yard that still had leaves – and I’d guestimate that was about 40% of the canopy as of yesterday afternoon -were bare this morning.

no way, unless we harken back to original word in latin “censere” for one of it’s meanings “to assess or to tax” and officially order him to pay for his abuse of office. something in the neighborhood of forfeiting his entire fortune and properties to federal gov’t.

they use to make the censured one stand before the membership to receive the condemnation. if censure is the only way out then he should be publically pilloried, made on camera to stand nude in public stocks set up in front of the capitol for as long as it takes for each voting member to say their piece directly to his face while they vote.

White House hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) fired back at former Vice President Joe Biden over his criticism of her newly released “Medicare for All” plan after her 2020 rival blasted her over the plan’s cost.

“The cost projections that we have on Medicare were authenticated by President Obama’s head of Medicare. Our revenue projections were authenticated by President Obama’s labor economist. And the employer contribution is already part of the Affordable Care Act that President Obama put into the Affordable Care Act,” Warren told reporters Friday. “So if Joe Biden doesn’t like that, I’m just not sure where he’s going.”

[…]

Several other 2020 candidates also panned the proposal, largely over its cost.

“Democrats are not going to win by repeating Republican talking points and by dusting off the points of view of the giant insurance companies and the giant drug companies who don’t want to see any change in the law that will bite into their profits,” Warren fired back.

“But if anyone wants to defend keeping those high profits for insurance companies and those high profits for drug companies and not making the top 1 percent pay a fair share in taxes and not making corporations pay a fair share in taxes, then I think they’re running in the wrong presidential primary,” she added.

The only problem with the M4All as outlined by Warren is that it won’t work and will never pass. It is a slogan not a workable arrangement. Now the need to get down to brass tacks. First any system even close to the type would have to be mandatory as it is in all other Universal Care developed countries. Since the US is pretty much 50 nations in search of a government, this would probably be a Constitutional battle royal and the taxing system already proposed for the ACA was ruled a no no by the Supremes.

Denmark is excellent for its 5.6 million people. Virtually all taxes go to services to the population and its standing Army is very small and mandatory for all males (women may join). Their version of Social Security is a combination of state, employer, and individual contribution and the money hasn’t been stolen for decades to cover up the horrendous US debt.

Strangely enough the three states (CA, OR & WA with about 50 million people) that are closing in on universal healthcare have built on the ACA and are a combination of public/private systems where majority of the providers are non profit.

So if you really want coverage ASAP nag your state to cooperate with the ACA, work on reducing drug costs, sign up for the ACA and vote Democratic so we have a chance to get some of these programs through the state governments and the Senate. Now that is truly Progressive.

Looking not like a full year left for Harris, she has trimmed staff and is now looking for one of those miracles that happen only infrequently. Interesting is there is little talk of Amy Klobuchar going away.

There is a lot of firewood around here right now. If one had the energy and desire (a good chain saw would help) one could put away a cord or two fairly inexpensively.

Beto out is a good thing. He really needed Senate or Cabinet time. I doubt Butiedge can make it simply because of the Democratic base and the fact that he is basically mayor of a smallish city that he won by 7K votes and messes there to clean up. So outside of the old folks home, that leaves

Harris, Klobuchar, Booker, and Castro. A combination of Harris/Castro or Booker/Klobuchar would work really well with the Democratic base.

I’ll vote for whomever in the general, but I really don’t care for Klobuchar or Harris for the top spot. I’d prefer Pete before Joe, too. Pete is a veteran, which is more important than the fact that his mayorship is of a smallish City. It’ll be Warren to take down Trumpsky.

Pete has racial problems in his city that he has been working on, but it’s still a problem when the most dependable segment of the Democratic base is Black Women with Hispanic being another major chunk. I think that his being gay is less of a problem than most of the chattering media think it is, but it could come into play for the nomination.

We really need to keep an eye on the internals with so many being in the undecided column. While I would vote for her, Warren irritates me at regular intervals and you know the Socialist attack lines just write themselves. Tonight’s appearance could create a clearer picture.

BiD when Lizzie is flinging poo at Joe I wouldn’t accuse him as acting like an ass without a link or at least a cryptic explanation about what the hell you’re referring to. See Poobahs 525 comment as a model

Looks like lizzie is worried about her internal polling and she is moving hard left in desperation. Only explanation I can see, that and her honesty problem. Both will be killers in the general election.
Jack

As to Beto, he has to have set a record in the fail department, He basically killed any political future he may have had. To think I thought he might have a chance to be president. lol He will do a Jason Kander. Find a charity to head up, pull in lots of donations with his charm and draw a good salary.
Jack

As to Joe, well Joe is still Joe and everything I pointed out about him back when Craig was on the Joe band wagon still applies. But with Harris stumbling; Booker and Castro not getting any attention; with Liz, Bernie and Mayor pete fighting for the white vote that kinda leaves Joe in the drivers seat for the ethnic vote. Liberals, Ethnic and Clinton centrist. That makes up the Democratic party, you need to carry 2 of them to win the nomination. Right now Joe seems to be the only one that can do that.
Jack

Except that Joe is only taking about the past; Obama and ACA. He is not speaking about moving into a better future. He is part of the tired, old status quo. He hasn’t caught in with the younger crowd, either. He’s losing.

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